Stories and secrets from the poker rooms of Macau are the stuff of legends – and surprisingly it is Alec Torelli rather than Tom Dwan or Phil Ivey who is hoping to bring them to life in a book!
I believe I have a great story to tell about playing the biggest #poker games in the world in #Macau.
If you know a literary agent, hit me up. Would greatly appreciate it. ??✌?
— Alec Torelli (@AlecTorelli) November 8, 2018
The California pro is perhaps best-known for the angle-shooting saga which blew up in his face last year. But, he was apparently also a regular in the high-stakes cash games that Macau is famous for.
Tom and the triads?
Tales of billionaire businessmen, $40 million pots and Triad involvement have been around for years in the former Portuguese, now Chinese-controlled, region.
Tom Dwan, for example, was rumored to be heavily indebted to some serious figures in the underworld. Hence his very rare public appearances for a couple of years – or so the story goes.
Quite how Torelli managed to play such games is a mystery of sorts. With stakes that very few can afford – and rules that even fewer can afford to break.
With people like Wan ‘Broken Tooth’ Kuok-koi involved, and a history that makes Las Vegas look positively innocent, Torelli’s often dubious actions would be seriously frowned upon way out East.
Is Alec Torelli an angleshooter?
Last year on Poker Night in America, Torelli was shown on camera sneaking extra chips into his stack (known as ‘Going North’) and then hiding his big chips from sight – only to unleash them after an opponent went all-in.
The huge furore that followed involved Doug Polk and even Daniel Negreanu. You Tube videos, poker forum comments and Twitter posts were bouncing around for months.
Macau’s Big Game
Any book on the dark underbelly of the Macau poker scene would have to include the infamous Big Game, hosted by Winfred Yu at his Poker King Club.
A combination of billionaire businessmen such as Paul Phua and Richard Yong, incredibly wealthy Chinese amateurs, and the invited highstakes pros such as Dwan, Ivey, Sam Trickett and Andrew Robl amongst others.
Torelli’s name has rarely cropped up in any of the stories which have escaped the rather secretive nosebleed game. Although, he did appear in a photo from the game – an unusual thing indeed…
Massive stacks and massive pots
Dwan reputedly lost a $20 million pot in a set-over-set scenario, according to fellow highstakes hero Daniel ‘Jungleman’ Cates. He also supposedly won a three way all-in for $11 million according to Finnish pro Joni Jouhkimainen.
Englishman Trickett claims he has had $1 million per session losses – and even bigger wins – and that often the games have become way too big for him.
A book deal?
Poker books may not be quite as popular as they once were, but if Torelli does indeed have the goods from inside the biggest game in the world, it would make for fascinating reading.
It seems, too, that he might have a chance of securing that book deal – D&B Poker asking him to get in touch…
Hi Alec, Dan here from D&B – we’re always interested to hear about potential ideas. Feel free to drop me a line info@dandbpoker.com
— D&B Poker (@DBPoker1) November 9, 2018
…the publisher already behind some excellent tomes such as Phil Hellmuths ‘Poker Brat’, 2017 WSOP Main Event champ Qui Nguyen’s amazing rags to riches tale and Chris Moorman’s strategy guides.
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